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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

Window re-seal kit

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farrison
Navigator

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USA
166 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/11/2008 : 16:34:53

Well, I have tested the Catalina direct window re-seal kit. My friend with a ’79 Catalina 27’ bought the CD kit a few weeks back. We removed the two worst leaking windows and took them home to work on them.
The window frames sealed to the boat with a gray, tacky sealant that had “cold flowed” away from the frames over the years, and that was where most of the leaks probably came from, although the window seal was pretty rotten also. After we removed the inner frame ring, we pushed out gently on one corner of the window. The sealant slowly yielded and the windows came out. The sealant can be scraped off the fiberglass with a putty knife, and a heat gun helps soften it more. Final cleaning will have to be done with some sort of solvent.
The outer window frames (that hold the glass) come apart at each short end. There is a flat aluminum strip at each end, with two screws that hold the upper and lower halves together. There was minimum corrosion on these screws, so the halves came apart easily.
The glass and rubber seal came out easily also, along with the inner rubber trim strip that just fills a second channel in the frame. The frames were dirty, with some corrosion, so we opted to clean and paint the frames before reassembly.
The CD window kit is the same for both the 25’ and the 27’ boats. It comes with new rubber seal for the widows, new rubber trim strip for the inside channel, a tube of 4200 quick cure for the frame-to-boat seal, and a tube of Dow/Corning sealant, and is used for both inside the seal for the window-to-seal, and outside the seal for the seal-to-frame. There were also some Popsicle sticks, and a single page of very general (and relatively useless) instructions.
The two windows took a little over two hours to re-seal and re-assemble. The first one took a lot longer while we climbed the learning curve. But the second one went much quicker. We had some small plastic scrapers that my friend had purchased at WM and these were a great help in scraping off the excess sealant, and pushing the corners of the seal into the corners of the frames. We did not put relief cuts in the corners. This is definitely a two-person job, as multiple hands are required.
Re-installation into the boat will have to wait for a little warmer weather.
If people are interested in more detail, I can write this up and put it in the tech tips.

Paul

"Waiting Name" '82' C25 SR/WK #2866.

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 11/11/2008 : 19:15:17

Good for another 30 years...

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dkavanagh
Deckhand

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USA
1 Posts

Response Posted - 11/12/2008 : 12:10:08

Paul, Where did you get your kit? I'm buying a '76 C27 and it needs all of the windows re-sealed. I hear I can get them from Catalina yachts for about $100.

David

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farrison
Navigator

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USA
166 Posts

Response Posted - 11/13/2008 : 09:45:08

David;

The kit is from Catalina Direct, not Catalina Yachts (although they may have them also). Catalina Direct is an on-line store that sells parts for almost all the Catalinas. The window kit is listed under the Cat 27' and is about $98.00 or so, plus shipping.

Good luck

Paul

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farrison
Navigator

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USA
166 Posts

Response Posted - 11/13/2008 : 09:48:46

Sorry David, I also should have added that the Catalina Direct website link is right here under our "links" section. Look in the upper Left hand section here for "Links"

Paul

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Stingray Meg
Deckhand

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USA
19 Posts

Response Posted - 11/18/2008 : 15:28:27

Paul I would be very interested. I know I have one and maybe two windows where water is coming in around the frame to boat seal. So I need to pull the whole window frame and redo.

If you post in tech tips could you put a link here as well?

Thanks.

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dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 11/18/2008 : 19:00:32

From what I've read in earlier threads, plan on spending about 2 hours on the first window. Experience will shorten the time a little on the others. Because the window frames are 2 pieces, it will also help to have a helper.

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Bortiquai
1st Mate

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88 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2008 : 08:57:04

I just did this project about a month ago, and didn't have very much success. I have a 1980 Catalina 25. The windows were (still are) in terrible shape. Rain water was just pouring, and finally I bought the kit.

Getting the windows out was a bit of a project because many of the stainless screws were so corroded onto the the aluminum frame, I had to use a mini-grinder to grind the screw head off. If you do this project, definitely put silicone or something on the screws to help slow the corrosion.

On my windows too, the rubber gasket was so rotten, it pretty much came out like dirt. I (carefully) used a razor blade to remove the old adhesive/sealant, and didn't mar the gelcoat at all.

One thing i noticed is the plywood core at the window cut-outs was very rotten, and in some places gone all together. I tried to repair this with West System Epoxy

The next problem I had was the Opening port over the head was also so corroded, when I tried to get the frame off, the glass just broke into 3 or 4 pieces. I ended up getting a new Opening port by Bomar from Defender.com.

Re-assembling and re-installing the windows took much longer than two hours, but I was by myself. In the end, the windows still leak, though not quite as bad. Looking at the frames, they are such a mess - all bent in at the screw holes - I think maybe because of this the screws cannot be tightened enough. Between that and the rotten core at the cut-out, maybe there is not enough pressure pulling the frame in to create a good seal.

So now I am looking for other options, possibly to replace the whole assembly all together.

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.